The Dan Bongino Show - Ep. 885 Screw the Mediocracy !

Episode Date: January 2, 2019

In this episode I devour the DC Swamp-Rat class which Victor Davis Hanson refers to as the “Mediocracy.” This is one of my most important shows I’ve ever done as I break down the significant damage the Swamp Rats have done to this country.    News Picks: One of the finest pieces I’ve read in a long time about the political elite’s war on Trump.   2 things about economics everyone must know.   5 threats to national security in 2019.   The number of sick kids soars at the border.    CNN’s “journalist of the year” admits to faking news stories.          Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

get ready to hear the truth about america on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host dan bongino all right welcome to the dan bongino show producer joe how are you today man i'm doing good it's it's a new year i haven't had a chance to screw anything up yet yeah not yet it's still time 363 days left so we're good to go yeah we'll mess something up don't worry about it folks we got you there. We got you covered. Hey, I got a pretty stacked show today. I'm pretty excited about today's show.

Put a lot of work into today's show because there were a lot of good stories. And I read a tremendous, tremendous, fantastic, excellent piece. I can't use enough adjectives to describe how wonderful it is by Victor Davis Hanson in the show notes today that I strongly, strongly encourage you to read. As always, if you go to my website, the show notes are there

in the podcast link right there. And if you subscribe to my email list, I'll email them to you. But it is really wonderful describing what he calls the political class mediocrity. No, no, not the meritocracy. I didn't get that wrong. The mediocrity. What an awesome piece. I'm going to go through it. So don't go anywhere. Let's get right to it. Yeah, it's great. You know Victor Davis Hanson.

He's terrific. And he's got that voice. He disarms you. Hey, Joseph, it's good to be on the show. Good to see you today, man. And he just puts you at ease. And then he just melts you with logic. He's so good.

So I got that and a lot more. Don't go anywhere. All right, today's show brought to you by our buddies at Policy Genius. Listen, no one wants to talk about life insurance. It's not a fun topic to talk about. Obviously, most people don't want to think about dying and they definitely don't want to think about insurance. But having life insurance feels great. That sense of security, it's a commitment you got to make. And getting that peace of mind doesn't need to be complicated. Policy Genius is a simple way. It's incredibly easy. I've been there. I've seen it. I know the website. I know how it works. It is super,

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doggy daddy from True Romance. One of my favorite movies. Remember that? Okie dokie, doggy daddy. That movie is great. One of my favorites, Christopher Walken. What a scene of that movie. Okay. So before we get to the Victor Davis Hanson piece, just a couple of things, this American Paul Whelan, who's being in prison now in Moscow by the Russians on allegations of spying. I don't know if you've seen the story. He is an American. He was a former law enforcement official. He works in security right now for a global firm that does auto parts or some automotive parts or something like that. Paul Whalen's his name. He was attending a wedding in Moscow,

and the Russians have now taken him prisoner under allegations of spying. Listen, folks, I'm not buying this story one bit, by the Russians, that is. I think this guy is the guy is retribution for what's going on with this, with the Trump Russia scandal in the United States. And I think the Russians are trying to make an example out of this guy. Now, the only reason I say that I bring it up is because I had some experiences in Russia myself that were quite unpleasant. When I spent some time in Moscow, I was over there with a friend of mine with the secret service on a temporary investigative assignment. We were over there trying to supplement what used to be the Moscow office. They had it. We, the secret service

had a Moscow office. Um, and it was, it was the full-time employees were basically the full-time secret service employee was given the boot. He was PNG made persona non grata. He was kicked out. was kicked out. This guy, Charlie White at the time, there's nothing he did wrong. It was just the Russians wanted to get back at us and they kicked out the boss, but they let back in temporary employees. So they would staff the office on three-week investigative assignments. I went back with a friend of mine, this guy, Sean, and I spent three weeks in Moscow. And I'll tell you over there, you know, folks, it can break bad in a minute. Don't think the rules apply. We had dip passports, diplomatic passports, Joe, which, you know, if you watch Lethal Weapon 2 or 3 or whatever it was, I think it was 2. Diplomatic community.

Remember the South African guy? You're under the mistaken belief that having a diplomatic passport actually confers anything on your status but believe me when you're in Russia it don't mean squat the Russians do what the hell they want remember he leads a weapon to the guy with the Kruger hands diplomatic

immunity and Mel Gibson's like yeah whatever dude and he just like whacks him anyway so when we were over there, we got pulled over. And if you ever go to Russia, they have this, I think they call it the Pajolsta stick. The cops, the street cops have this white stick. It's like a, you know, like a club. Yeah.

But it's white. Yeah. And it's supposed to be for traffic because you can see it. And when they point that stick, man, you better stop. Because if you don't stop, you may be on the receiving end of that stick. And I don't mean your car. I mean your melon. So people stop when they see the Pajalsta stick or whatever it was called.

Probably saying it wrong. Probably get a thousand emails. But we didn't stop one time. Me and my friend. And the guy wound up chasing. We didn't see him. It wasn't like we did anything. We made an illegal U-turn.

We didn't even know it was illegal. We were on this ring road. And we just didn't know. I mean, it our fault we were going we were lost we're going in the wrong direction so this guy pulled us over and the minute we saw him we pulled over we weren't trying to evade him or anything like that all right and we showed him a diplomatic passport and this little note they gave us from the embassy because we were on a temp assignment and believe me this guy did not care one bit at all he sat there at that car looking for a bribe from us for probably a half an hour. And we don't speak Russian. All I remember was, what was it? Yanni Ponimayu,

I don't speak Russian. Or Yanni Gavrubaruski, I forget. But all I remember knowing was I don't speak Russian. Now, Joe knows a little bit about Russia too. Yeah, but for different circumstances, not law enforcement on either end. Not acting as one or on the receiving end, the one like we were on both ends. This dude sat there, I'm telling you for 30 minutes, yelling at us in

Russian. And me and my buddy Sean were pretty big guys. This guy was a decent sized dude himself, although a little bit of a potbelly. And I swear at one point, about 28 minutes in, it's a true story. And my buddy, Sean, when he retires, I'll have him on the show and we can talk. He's still working. So I can't tell the story now. At one point, we looked at each other like, what do we do? Because this guy looked like he was going to lock us up and throw us in a room. We were not good. Listen, we were not good listen we were not going no matter what the no no way brother no sister we were not going it was not happening it was like fetch it was not gonna happen and i

looked at my buddy and he looked at me and if you could tell the guy didn't speak english he wasn't faking it and there was we were on a bridge over a river, and I swear we were both thinking at the same time, you hit him high, I'll hit him low. We dumped this guy over the side. He wouldn't have died. It was only like a 10-foot drop or something. And then we just get the hell out of here and get back to the embassy stat.

And just as we, I'm telling you, we laugh about it to this day because we were, at the time, it was different. We were really worried. Hell yes. Yeah. But then he just gave up he like screamed something in Russian realized we weren't going to pay him off in rubles

and he just took off and we looked at each other like damn but I'm telling you right now we were not going to some Russian prison there were no way in hell and I could totally see this guy without a dip passport overseas at a wedding you know the rule of law over there is

non-existent if they don't you know they'll do whatever they want oh yeah now i know uh you know you've got some experience there too but it's i just read that story and i was i was like oh man this guy's in a lot of trouble i had an experience like this in tijuana with some buddies and i know that very moment when we looked at each other i like you saw what do we do like should we throw this guy in the woods yeah right i know that i know that you hit him high i hit him low it just right yeah just throw him in the woods for a minute and get the hell out of there right we're not stopping we're not no because you'll never coming back and that's the thing man we i we saw that me and my buddy and it was such a it wasn't even that he wrote us

you may say well then you made an illegal u-turn yeah he wrote us the ticket folks maybe i didn't tell the story he wrote us the ticket so we had fine we were gonna pay the ticket fine matter of fact we got in trouble at the embassy later because i don't think we paid the ticket they were like hey you guys shouldn't come back we're like fine we're not coming back anyway no worries but he wrote us the ticket and we're still looking for money that's the point we fine, we're not coming back anyway, no worries. But he wrote us the ticket and we're still looking for money. That's the point. We're like, we're not giving this guy money. I'm not giving him a dime.

Forget it. So interesting, though. But this guy's in a lot of trouble, man. Big deal. All right, one other story before I get to this. I got some really good stuff for you today. How do you think the media optics would be, by the way, right now, if there was a government shutdown? Let me just throw a hypothetical.

Well, there is a government shutdown, but just play this game. Let's go to Bizarro Superman Land and get out of the real world for a minute let's say we were in a government shutdown and donald trump was in a ten thousand dollar a night villa somewhere in i don't know hawaii or you know somewhere in some island in costa rica somewhere some private island and he was in that ten thousand dollar a night villa walking around doing his thing signing autographs while the government was shut down and nancy pelosi was in dc in her office seemingly waiting for a call from donald trump to negotiate a budget deal how do you think that would look that bourgeois son of a no you're darn right media br that's exactly what the headline would be look at this bougie guy yep this would be all over the media out of touch elitist look he doesn't care uh the problem is that is happening just the roles are reversed nancy

pelosi's in a ten thousand dollar she's back now but she was in a ten thousand dollar a night uh villa i believe in hawaii during this government shutdown while pretending to be you know oh listen we care about the little guy these government workers are not getting paid right now well maybe you should get back to d.C. and get to work, Nancy. Just think about that. And the media, the coverage of this, of course, has been light. I saw it on Twitter and I got a bit of a laugh about that because it's true. If the roles were reversed, it would be completely ridiculous. So let me get to this story before I get to the Davis Hanson piece, because it's an important one. So these presidential campaigns are kicking off and Elizabeth Warren, of course, is the first one. And, you know, each one is going to have their own

launch video. And if you ever run for office, for as much as I dislike Elizabeth Warren, she's doing it the right way. My advice to you where we almost pulled off a huge upset in Maryland in a district that is heavily, heavily Democrat. No one's even come within single digits of winning that congressional seat. But me, we lost by one point. We won on election night, as a matter of fact. I say that because we did a couple things. Now, if you ever run for office, Elizabeth Warren's doing them now. I'm not a fan of Elizabeth Warren, but some advice if you're an office seeker, get out early. Don't let these people tell you, no, you know, you want to get in late. You know, you don't want to have to suffer the slings and arrows the entire time. The minute you get in, they're going to hit you anyway.

Do you want them to hit you closer to the election, or do you want them to hit you two years out when all that stuff is going to be worn down? It'll be all the tax at that point. You want to get in early. Warren did that. But second, you want to make announcements about announcements about announcements. This is the best advice I can give you.

When I met Joe Armacacost what i had done is i had made an announcement about making an announcement i'm like i'm damn bongino you know secret service agents i'm leaving my job we're gonna make an announcement why do you do that you make an announcement about announcement to leverage free media what they call earned media you want the media to cover you cover you for free or else you got to pay for it. An ad on Joe's radio station, soon to be former radio station there, is expensive. It's not cheap. And, you know, it's a pretty popular station.

But why pay for an ad if you can get the host to talk about you anyway? So Warren, by announcing the famous exploratory committee, did the smart thing. Making it, you know, make an option, make an announcement about it. We're exploring. We're exploring. She's running for president, folks.

And then when she formally announces, which for all intents and purposes, Monday was, she gets another hit at the free media bubble there. So it's a smart strategy. The problem is they're all going to have unique takes. Some of them are going to run as centrists. Some are going to run as radical leftists. Warren has clearly chosen the Bernie Sanders approach, radical far leftism. And the demonization of corporations is going to become a central tenet of her candidacy. I saw some of her platform. It involves having to register,

essentially, get a federal charter if you're a corporation over a billion dollars in revenue, having to seat these employee boards on your board. It's really an anti-corporate agenda. And a lot of you listening may say, okay, well, great. Corporations are so powerful, evil corporations. They do all these really awful things. And I've really been getting miffed about this because you know I love economics. And it's not about whether you like or dislike. Don't make this personal. Divorce emotion from this.

It's not about whether you like or dislike corporations. Can I be candid with you? I'm not trying to be rude to you folks. You're my listeners. I love you to death. I don't care whether you like or dislike corporations. What I care about is what corporations do for the country. I care about actions. I don't care what you like or dislike corporations. What I care about is what corporations do for the country. I care about actions.

I don't care what you think about them. And candidly, corporations don't either in many respects. They have to respond to shareholders. I mean, yes, they have PR departments that try to put a shine on things, but the bottom line, answering to shareholders typically matters. Now, I couldn't think of a better way to sum this up, and I want to hat tip Turning Point USA, who had this on their account yesterday. I picked this off their Twitter account. It is an old highlight video of Milton Friedman, the great legendary,

God rest his soul, Milton Friedman. He used to go on Phil Donahue a lot. And a woman gets up and takes this exact line of attack that Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders. That's the reason I'm bringing this up, because this battle versus the evil corporations is going to come up. And I'm using that term, obviously, sarcastically, is going to come up as each candidate announces and runs in this far left space. Bernie Sanders, Terry McAuliffe and others. It's going to be this fight versus the corporations. Not understanding the value these companies bring to the United States and the United States economy. Friedman's answer to this woman is absolutely spectacular. Now, the audio is old.

Joe did his best to clean it up, but it's definitely, you can hear it. But I want you to listen to the question first from the woman about these bad corporations, how they're sucking up the money from all the working people. And Friedman's absolutely brilliant answer. We still have so many impoverished people who try to get up into the world. Why is it we have this lack of money where people who can't support themselves decently and get a decent job where all these big men are up on top making oodles and oodles of money.

They don't need it. They can only eat that much. Eat in a sleep in a bed. And what do you suppose they do? If they don't eat it and don't use it, what do you suppose they do? They hoard it. And what do you mean they hoard it? You mean they put it under their pillows?

That's right. No. They keep investing it. Investing it in what? That's right. What are they invested in? Well, in oil and everything. I mean, all these other people. What are they invested in? Well, in oil and everything. I mean, all these other people.

What are they invested in? Don't get off the subject. What are they invested in? Well, they invested in a lot of different things that the little people need. Well, do they invest it in factories? Yes. Do some of that money end up in machines? Yes.

Do those factories and machines provide ordinary working people with jobs or not? What do you suppose the productivity of this country would be and the wage rate would be if the total amount of capital in this country today was what it was 100 years ago? Where do you suppose the improvements in productivity come from except from the investment by people of their savings? But let me go to your fundamental question. First place, nirvana is not for this world. There is no paradise. Of course we've got a lot of people who are poorly off.

But if you look at it over time, if you get a sense of proportion, the well-being of ordinary people has been the main thing that has been improved by economic progress and economic growth and development. And residual, most residual hard cases of poverty today are the result, again, of a failure of government. That goes on a little bit, but that's the essence of what he's, the rest of he talks about government, minimum wage and other things that have affected the entrance of young black youth into the audience. I only cut it off because I wanted to make sure that first point hits you and hits you hard. We haven't used Friedman in a long time on the show, and I regret that

because there was no more eloquent figure in describing the benefits of capitalism outside of the emotion involved in it. Emotion's easy. Corporations, they're ripping us off. Yeah, they're ripping us off. Oh my gosh, get the corporations. Do you work for a corporate? Yes, I work for a corporate. What if you lost your job? I'd be miserable. Do you understand what you're talking about? So he brings up a couple of points. I just wanted to hammer home given the, uh, the Elizabeth Warren fiasco on Monday and this ridiculous, uh, you know, announcement and all the corporations, corporations, number one, the lady seems to believe that corporations, she says they quote hoard their money.

They do. What do you think corporations do with the money they make? And by the way, their revenue and their profit are not the same thing. A lot of companies generate revenue, but don't generate profit. A lot of Americans don't understand that. They say, what do they do with all that revenue well in some cases everything they pay their employees they pay off their debt they invest in new capital and they don't make anything not every single business is profitable you understand that right i know my audience is

very bright on economics i always love your feedback but there's a big difference between revenue and profit just because a company makes billions doesn't mean it earns billions. You need an example? Look at GE. All right? Listen, I'm a stockholder in GE. Believe me, I've been getting hammered. I thought I found the floor with GE at $9 a share.

Not so much. Making billions and earning billions is a lot different they don't hoard it when they earn profits not revenue but profits what do they do with those profits there's no mr ge or mr ibm no they can either turn that back over into future investments into more lucrative product lines in the future. They can invest in other companies like Facebook and Google does a lot. They buy up other companies. I believe it was, what is it, Facebook bought up Instagram and what is it, Google bought up YouTube.

They can buy up other companies. But this is what keeps the American economy moving and grooving. It's this flush supply of capital in the United States supplied by what? Corporations, businesses that earn revenue and profits. They don't hoard it. They're not hiding it under some pillow. Then you say, well, some of them just keep it in a bank. Okay, well, what does the bank do with it? The bank lends it out. Ladies and gentlemen, banks have an overnight lending rate. You realize that, right? An overnight lending rate.

Banks don't want to hold money ever. Money doesn't make money when it sits in a bank vault. Banks have capital requirements. They have to keep a certain amount of capital as a cushion. But outside of that capital requirement, they don't want one, literally one penny more. It is all lent out to who? Other people in the United States using credit cards, getting student loans, buying cars, buying homes. Well, you want to shut that all down. So this lady and Elizabeth Warren wants to do what? Well, you want to shut that all down.

So this lady and Elizabeth Warren wants to do what? Dry up and burn the supply of United States capital generated by, in some cases, profitable corporations. Not in all cases. You want to dry that up? You don't want a student loan? You don't want a car loan? You don't want a mortgage? You don't want a credit card?

No, I'm talking to you personally, not to you, mostly the liberals. I mean, I don't mean to, the conservatives and libertarians listening to the show get this stuff. But to the liberals and the college kids listening who still believe in liberalism and evil corporations, you don't want any of that stuff. You don't have a credit card? You don't have a student loan?

Where do you think that money came from? The money fairy? That money came from profitable businesses and corporations that put the money back into the money fairy that money came from profitable businesses and corporations that put the money back into the financial system to lend it to people like you people like me people like joe joe and i are not financially independent forever that i still have a credit card they don't hoard it that's an outrageous and i'm glad friedman that what do you think they do with it ma'am do you think they put it underneath their pillows i mean it requires you thomas

soul's brilliant thomas soul used to say it requires you to do only first order thinking and never ask the question and then what soul used to always say another uh a disciple of milton friedman by the way thomas soul brilliant alive, one of the most brilliant thinkers in our generation, especially on economics, but I'd argue governing philosophy, too. My man. Sowell, yeah, he's great. He's just awesome. We don't use enough of his stuff, either.

We've got to use some of his quotes. Sowell would say, you have to ask the question from liberals, okay, and then what? So a corporation makes money, and then what? And then that's what Friedman does. The lady goes, well, they hoard it. He goes, what do you mean? Like, put it under their pillow, and then what? And she goes, what Friedman does. And the lady goes, well, they hoard it. He goes, what do you mean? Like put it under their pillow and then what?

And she goes, no, no, they don't put it under their pillow. They buy stuff and they invest in stuff that the little people need. And Friedman's like, lady, didn't a light bulb just go off in your head? You just figured it out on your own whether you know it or not. The money isn't hidden under a pillow. They use loans. They buy equity in other companies that need the money isn't hidden under a pillow they can use loans they buy equity and other companies that need the money ladies and gentlemen i have a little note here we use their money what do you think the government when the government is spending on your social security and medicare there's no money folks i got an interesting email from a

person i won't say their name then give me permission so i if you don't specifically say you can use my name i won't person an email said dan you said the other day in the in the uh in the show that all debts are paid either by the debtor or the creditor it doesn't make sense i paid it to my social security i'm not going to get any of that. Exactly. All debts are paid. You paid it. You paid for you. There's no doubt you paid for your social security. There you go.

There you go. Good one. Yeah. You are not getting any of it. The government passed the same people. 65 and older probably be okay. 65 and younger. There's no money.

You pay. You're paying, but you're paying for other people's Social Security. They've already spent it. All debts are paid. They are always paid. All of it. Every time.

We use their money. Rich people who put money back in the financial system and profitable corporations, we use their money. It's their money we're using. Where do you think this money's coming from? There is no money fairy. The social security fund is dry, folks. There's nothing there. That's a myth. I'm genuinely sorry. And I've said this repeatedly that you paid into a system for a long time under the expectation that you would be paid back at a certain rate. Many of you will. I believe if you're 65 and older, you'll be okay. I'm not justifying this.

What the government did to people was a sin, is a stain on the country because many of them designed their lives around an expected return on social security that I believe 65 and younger, we may be in a lot of trouble. And at some point in your lifetime, those benefits are going to dry up. It's not your fault. The government screwed you over. They said they owe you a debt. That debt is being paid now by people who are currently paying it to the social security system in a pay go. In other words, the money you invested years ago, like, well, I'm 75. I'm getting my money. You're not getting your money back. Your money was already spent.

The government spent it. You're getting mine and Joe's money. My money's gone. I have no expectation of receiving Social Security at all. It's gone. I know it's gone because you're using it. If you're 67 and a half and older, it's at whatever age you took your Social Security.

You're using my money, which is fine. You are the greatest generation. The government made you promises. I feel genuinely bad for people, but I have no expectation whatsoever that that program is going to have a dime when I get older. None. And I'd make the strong case to you, if you're my age, 44, do not count on that.

There is nothing there. All right. to you if you're my age 44 do not count on that there is nothing there all right i have another good article in the show notes today that i want you to to take a look at tim warlstall wrote it it's uh two things about economics everybody must know it's pretty fascinating piece uh it's pretty simple basically that incentives matter and opportunities cost so i'll go check that out it's a really good read to talk They talk about nurses from the Philippines being recruited into the United States and how that created a series of incentives, how Philippine nurses wanted to come here because there was more money.

And then as hospitals lost nurses in the Philippines, they started paying more money to nurses in the Philippines to come work in Filipino hospitals, which in turn incentivized more women to go into the nursing profession. So he says, listen, a lot of DC politicians don't understand this when they talk about economics. When you create a system, a government policy, it's going to create incentives and disincentives. If you would just acknowledge that, you'd be brighter than 90% of D.C.

And remember, opportunity costs. There are opportunity costs to just about any financial decision. If you understand incentives matter and opportunities cost, you are way, way ahead of the DC class, which understands none of it. I mean, the best way to understand opportunity costs is, you know, I use my wife as an example frequently. We hit this mark back in the two hundreds, dude. Oh yeah. One hundreds. I think we've been talking about this forever. I love economics. Elizabeth Warren and all these far leftists announcing is just going to bring all these arguments right back to the

forefront. I mean, we had a field day with Bernie Sanders, Joe. If you're a new listener, go back and listen to those episodes. We just lit this guy up left and right, right? So opportunities cost. My wife's the perfect example. My wife is a very talented web designer, database developer. I mean, one of the best. I mean, I'll just say that because I'm married to her. She's just really, really smart. My wife could go and work in, I don't know, a minimum wage job. She could. And the way to look at that financially is not the way to look at it economically. If my wife worked at a minimum wage job, I'm not knocking it. I'm just trying to make an example out of the finances of it. Please don't take it the wrong way. Say she makes $10,000 a year. Financially, if you were making an argument,

you'd say, well, Paula's $10,000 better off at the end of the year. Economically, she's not. Economically, that's a ridiculous argument because my wife's talents are worth i mean i'm 150 250 000 a year depending on how much she wants to work and how often if not more so by choosing to work in a minimum wage job rather than work in the job she's qualified and talented for 250 000 my wife is. My wife is not $10,000 better off. Her salary in a minimum wage job, she's actually $240,000 worse off. In other words, opportunities cost. The cost of a foregone opportunity to be a web developer instead while you took a minimum wage job cost you $240,000. So if you understand incentives matter and foregone opportunities cost, you are way ahead of the dopey, silly Washington, D.C. crowd that doesn't understand either of this.

That's the problem with Obamacare. with Obamacare. Obamacare and the government infiltration through mandates and regulations of what insurance you have to buy and at what price created a significant foregone opportunity, which was letting the market control it that would have controlled price because it always does through supply and demand. You don't know what, you know, they call it, you can't prove a counterfactual. You don't know what your healthcare premiums would have been without Obamacare because that's not the world we live in. I'm relatively confident they would have been a whole lot cheaper. That foregone opportunity cost you a fortune. All right, moving on. I want to get to this Hanson piece. Okay. Today's show also brought to you by our buddies at Hair Club. Hey,

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drinking water out of a dish. He talks about the mediocrity, how the the trump election was a large-scale rebuttal to decades of being told about the dc meritocracy how dc was full of people of merit joe and they're the smartest among us and this is the benighted class and these are the intellectual elites and surely they know better than you you know i always think back speaking of th Thomas Saul, to tie it into how we got into this. Saul wrote a book, one of my favorite books ever. I can't promote this book enough. The Vision of the Anointed. And in Saul's book, he talks about this very thing.

The self-anointed class of self-anointed DC geniuses. How they're supposed to be so much smarter than you. But their very reasoning for governing is flawed. The reason for governing and they declare themselves the anointed ones is they believe you're too stupid because of your human flaws to govern yourself. So the anointed ones throughout history have felt the need to benight themselves, the anointed class, but never realizing the logical fallacy in that. the anointed class but never realizing the logical fallacy in that that if human beings are too mistake prone to govern over themselves why would other human beings govern over other people that was the whole brilliant idea of our constitution to limit the power of flawed human beings to govern over other flawed human beings. Right? Federalist 51. If men were angels.

We're not. It's not a meritocracy. And Victor Davis Hanson calls it the mediocracy. And he says, and this is a great line, Joe, that the mediocracy, meaning they're mediocre. These are mediocre, plain Jane, many of them, folks,

in the governing class, who have anointed themselves these intellectual elites. But Joe, they're living off the reputations of prior generations of greatness. Now, this is something you and I have discussed many times before. Yes, sir. I call it the Valley Forge generation. These were to steal a Braveheart line, still my favorite,

but the warrior poets, right? The people who could write the Federalist Papers and then get together a standing army in a near record amount of time to fight back the largest, most powerful army in the world in a military upset for the ages in the American Revolution. Beat back the British again in 1812. Survive a civil war. Fight World War I and World War II.

You know, get through the Great Depression. I mean, these were people had to make hard men having to make hard decisions. Yet the mediocrity can't make any decisions. They can't open up the government. They can't figure out what the government does. They can't figure out a way to operate the government

without bankrupting every American. They can't figure out how to for five minutes stop sniping at each other. They can't figure out how to stop talking down to Americans. They can't figure out that Americans are a little bit tired of being the world's entire global police force.

that rather than a man making a title worth something, this is a generation that believes that a title makes a man worth something. Think about that. They think the nice plaque in their office, Representative Joseph Armacost, Senator Dan Bongino, they believe the plaque in their office somehow has anointed them with special Wonder Twins powers.

That has anointed them with Kal-El type super laser vision in their eyes. The ability to breathe on something and create an ice storm. Like X-Men mutants. They have titanium spines or adamantium spines like Wolverine. Think about that. They believe that the title makes the men, not that a man makes a title worth something. There's a big difference there. Because the titles didn't matter as much in the infancy of our country to these great leaders we had. I mean, it's almost become

cliched to go back and talk about George Washington, but think about it. George Washington, there were no term limits. George Washington relinquishes power after two terms. Washington, he didn't have to. There were no term limits, folks. That was not in the Constitution during the Washington, our first president. It was a King George said, if this is true, he's the greatest man that ever lived. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe it. These were men who made their title worth something.

This generation now is full of worthless swamp rats who believe their title makes them worth something. Now, Hanson goes on in this wonderful, wonderful piece to list out all the things, the mediocrity. I love this line, the media. I can't get enough of this. I'm sorry to keep it. It's so terrific. It's so described that the diseased swamp. I can't think of a better word. All the things the mediocrity Joe has been wrong about.

He talks about how we remember when we were told a couple years ago during the Obama presidency, Joe, with the tail end of it, by Larry Summers and really smart economists, and by the way, I'm using the dreaded air quotes for really smart economists. We were told that sub-3%

growth was the new normal. This was the new normal. Me and you had talked about this a lot on the show. The new normal, Joe. No, we were never going to reach 3% again. Everything that could be invented had been invented. We were in an era of permanent stagnation. Remember Obama?

When are you going to find a job? When's Trump going to bring back the job? What's he going to do? How's Trump going to bring back them jobs? We're down to 3%. Remember Obama and that thing? You can't bring back those jobs. Those jobs are do? How's Trump going to bring back them jobs? We're down to 3%. Remember Obama and that thing? You can't bring back those jobs. Those jobs are gone.

What's Trump talking about? No dice, Mr. President. First year in office, President Trump hits 3% growth. 3%. The first year. It didn't even take a long time. The first year. It didn't even take a long time. The first year. So, again, the mediocrity was, these are the, folks, keep in mind, these are the, quote, smart people.

This is the new normal, you American idiots. It's not me talking. It's them talking. It's true. It's the new normal. You guys are all morons. It's true. 3% growth, no good, no dice.

The first year he hits it. These are the smartest economists on the planet. You all were too stupid, apparently, to figure it out. The problem is they were too stupid to figure it out. We were just fine. The mediocrity.

The swamp. Men who believe their titles give them power. the mediocrity, the swamp, men who believe their titles give them power. They lend nothing at all to the title. As a matter of fact, they diminish it. Politicians are some of the least respected people in America now. I guarantee you that probably wasn't an issue with George Washington. Just saying.

What else was the mediocrity wrong about? Well, I covered a little bit this week, so I don't want to rehash it, but if you listen to shows earlier, the Paris Climate Accords. Matt Palumbo has a terrific piece up on my website debunking the hysterical liberal nonsense when Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Accords

about carbon reductions. Oh, it was over. Liberals were calling it the end of the world, the apocalypse. It was over. Except for the fact that the United States, despite pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords, is still leading the world in carbon emission reductions. Folks, listen to me. Make no mistake.

They were wrong. They weren't wrong, asterisk. They weren't wrong, but they were just wrong. Because they're wrong about everything, liberals. You're a loser! I love that. What else were they wrong about? The Iran deal.

We were told about the Iran deal over and over. Oh, we have to deal with the Iranians. We have to deal with the Iranians. If we don't deal with the Iranians, they were on the road to a nuclear device. They were on the road to a nuclear device anyway! They didn the road to a nuclear device anyway. They didn't give a crap. They were still building ballistic missiles. They were already working on their nuclear program.

But all the smart people in the foreign policy establishment. Oh, you talking heads who don't have all the experience in academia we have. You're all idiots. Although they chant death to America, they don't really mean it. You all are too stupid to figure it out. OK. They were wrong about China. Just went throwing one of my own.

They were wrong about net neutrality, but we talked about that earlier in the week. If you listen to the show, the liberals were wrong about that too. And the intelligentsia. The internet's going to get shut down. The government needs to regulate it. Wrong on that. They were wrong on China. China's ascendant, Joe.

China's going to eventually take down the United States. Listen to me. It is not. China is one large Potemkin village, okay? No centrally planned economy will ever beat and take back the United States. We have our problems. We have a massive national debt load. I don't want to make everything out to be peaches and cream. It most certainly isn't. But ladies and gentlemen, China, there's some good news out of China, but I'm

telling you the long-term forecast for China is probably only a little bit better than the long-term forecast was for the Soviet Union. You cannot centrally plan an economy, control capital flows, control your monetary exchange rates, control your people through this social scoring system, and expect a free market economy to flourish. They're not symbiotic. They're parasitic, the Chinese government. There is absolutely zero chance China is going to overtake the United States, even with its significant population advantage. None. Don't give me purchasing power parity and all this other statistics I get. I'm talking about documented raw GDP. I mean raw what we produce. I mean trucks. I mean phones. I mean computers. I I mean, phones. I mean, computers. I mean, medical equipment,

medicine, movies, lawyers, doctors, steaks, cows, computer screens, paper, focus rights, microphones, telephones, picture frames, cameras, TVs. We produce it. We produce stuff. TVs, we produce it. We produce stuff. $21 trillion a year of stuff we produce because we work, because we got dirt under our fingernails, and the American worker is to bust his balls every day, getting to work with his work boots on to get done. China, I don't care they have three times as many people.

They will never take down this economy. That is an elitist, mediocrity, crap, diseased, swamp rat talking point. It is not going to happen. Despite eight years of Obama, a crappy swamp rat group of GOP spineless punks. I'm serious. A lot of GOP spineless punks. I'm serious. A lot of them, not all of them. The American worker still has a relatively free economy to flourish in. You will succeed in this country if you get an education, go to school, and work hard.

I'm telling you, there is no one, nobody sitting on this street right now, homeless, no one who has stayed away from drugs, stayed away from alcohol, lived a clean life, worked hard and gotten education. None. There is nobody. If you are, you are by choice. America is the land of opportunity. It is a light. It is in a thick, unseeable fog. It is that beacon to the shore. The Chinese don't have that. They monitor their citizens. They have political prisoners.

They have a controlled economy by, you would think we have a mediocrity, by an even worse mediocrity over there. Some of those Chinese bureaucrats have never even made a dollar in private business. At least some of our swamp rat mediocrats have actually made some money in the past. They are wrong. They will never take us down. Reminds me of Reagan with the Soviet Union at Reykjavik when he told Gorbachev about SDI. He wanted him to give up what they called Star Wars. It was not Star Wars.v about SDI.

He wanted him to give up what they called Star Wars. It was not Star Wars. It was SDI. And Reagan told him to go pound sand because Reagan knew he held the ace up his sleeve. And the ace was the U.S. economy. He looked Gorbachev in the eye and said, we will outspend you. You cannot win. Look at me. Look at me.

Look me in the eye and said, we will outspend you. You cannot win. Look at me. Look at me. Look me in the eye. You cannot win. And Gorbachev knew it. And so does President Xi. They cannot win. They cannot win a military conflict with us. They cannot win an economic conflict with us. And I'm tired conflict with us and i'm tired of being told by the mediocrats that they can i am a free trader i always had been i always have been i get a lot of nasty emails from people who believe in terrorists i get it but i will say this i understand what he's doing right now with china president trump and he is the only although we've been told by mediocrats and mediocrity for the mediocrity forever, what a bad idea it was. He has finally got the Chinese to the table to potentially acquiesce, to stop stealing our stuff.

They will not beat us. The mediocrity is wrong. In his piece, he also talks, so just to sum up where we are he talks about the mediocrity living off the reputations of prior generations of great leaders these aren't them these are not them he tells us what they've been wrong about he then goes on to talk about their gross their hypocrisy of the elite class and how it's considered gauch to call them out on it we shouldn't call out al gore al gore needs to fly around the country in a private jet to evangelize about the emissions from private jets.

Wait, what? Why does he need to do that? Why can't Al Gore fly commercial? Because he's Al Gore. He's an evangelist for climate science. Victor Davis Hanson says, no, no, no. No, no, we're not going to take that. We're going to call you idiots out at every opportunity.

Obama and all his Democrats. Oh, walls don't work. Why do you have a wall around your house? I thought they don't work. Well, they work for me. They just don't work for you idiots. That's Obama. No, walls worked fine for me when I was at the White House.

I had a nice spiked fence at the White House. But no, no, they don't work for you idiots. That's kind of hypocritical. No, no, no, it's not hypocritical. Remember, this is the mediocrity. They're all smarter than you, folks. They're not. They're not smarter than you. They're dumber than you.

I said to my daughter the other day, I've never been the smartest guy in the room. Never. I mean that. You give me a room of 100 people. I'm not selling myself short. I'm not trying to be like humble brag. I'm a reasonably. Never. I mean that. You give me a room of 100 people. I'm not selling myself short. I'm not trying to be like humble brag. I'm a reasonably smart guy. I've got some decent education and scored well on tests, whatever.

But I've never been the smartest guy in the room. Unless it's a room of like two people. Like me and my, you know, maybe one of my neighbors. That's it. I love my neighbors. They're good people. If it's a room full of people, I'm telling you I'm not the smartest guy. But I told my daughter, I've always been a hustler.

And I've always been eager to learn. And there is a difference between what I guess people would call street smarts and book smarts. There is a difference between telling someone how to shoot a three-pointer and actually shooting it. Some of the finest athletes in the world have made the most miserable coaches ever. You know why? It came easy to them. They can't describe to you how to shoot a three-pointer

because they were born knowing how to do it. Knowledge ain't knowing, babe. Knowledge, yes! I thought about, I was tweeting yesterday about Wade Boggs, the old third baseman for the Red Sox and the Yankees. Even though I was a Yankees fan growing up, I just adored. One of the greatest contact hitters of my generation. A guy who, let's be candid, him and Don Mattingly, my favorite player of all time, both of these guys were not born with immense physical skills. They weren't. They weren't born with Bo Jackson-like abilities. But they hustled. They hustled. They hustled. They led endless hours in the batting cage, on the batting tee, playing soft toss drills, one-handed swings, weightlifting, running. They hustled. And in that hustling, I'll never forget that 1986 race for the batting title between these two champions of their time. My most fond sports memory. Yesterday,

I thought about it. I tweeted to Boggs about it because it was just such a powerful memory in my childhood. Two hustlers hustled. And in that hustle, every time to be better, they had to learn little tricks because they did not have that 400 foot home run power. They weren't born with the muscle type to hit a home run, did a 500 foot home run. They weren't born with 4.2 40 yard dash speed. They weren't born with 4.2 40-yard dash speed. They weren't born with 200 pounds of muscle. So they had to learn the tricks. You know what the tricks are? The tricks are hard work. We have to, and I'm not saying people aren't gifted with their chest. A lot of them do work. Michael Jordan was known as one of the, Jordan who was unquestionably physically gifted, was known, he had both.

Jordan was a phenomenal, his work ethic was unparalleled at the time. And he also was born with the physical gifts. Boggs and Mattingly, they were talented, don't get me wrong. I don't want to act like they were born like lumps of clay. But they didn't have the Bo Jackson gifts, but they hustled.

And in that hustle, you learn the tricks. You learn the tricks. Reminds me of Craig Jeffries. He was an old Mets player. He said he figured, told himself how to juggle because he thought it would improve his hand-eye coordination. You know what? It did. That may be a trick he taught thousands of other players in his life and who made them better.

Politicians don't have that. These mediocrity, the mediocrity class, the Al Gore silver spoon babies, they don't have any of this. Obama's only job was as a community organizer. Guy I ran against in Maryland, Ben Cardin, nice guy, never has had a job outside of politics. They don't know how to hustle. They don't know the trick to mop the floor faster. They never had to get a mop.

I had to get a mop. I had to clean the floors in Key Food. And you know what? You figure out a way to empty that bucket quick. Don't lift it this way. You'll spill it on the floor. You'll be cleaning it up. You'll be there all night. Joe, you mopped a few floors yourself, right? I sure did, yeah. Listen, you mean, oh, mop. No, no, no. You got to learn how to mop. That's right. You'll be there all night the first few times. How do I empty this bucket? Remember the big yellow buckets, folks? Had the two uncomfortable steel handles that if you picked it up the wrong way would pinch your skin? You know how I know that? Because I did it. I got a mop. I mopped the damn floor. These politicians ain't mop no damn floors. They mop squat. Get the mop. Pick up the damn damn mop you'll figure it out do I go back and forth

do I go forward and back what's quicker and then you do a crap job of John from Key Food the boss be like go mop that thing again now you're on your own time you better figure out

how to mop they don't know how to mop they mop squat Hanson calls the mediocrity out for the hypocrites they are. Well, you don't want to fly commercial out, Gore? Then shut the hell up about anyone else flying private. You forfeited your moral authority. You have the Nomiki cons.

Remember her on Tucker? Individual decisions don't matter. They don't? What do you think collectively decisions are? What are we talking about, Martians? Of course individual decisions matter. It's individual decisions to do things that lead to these collective problems the liberals tell us are problems. If the liberals would all bandy together and donate extra money to the government for these social programs, we wouldn't be in debt.

But no, individual decisions don't matter. They do matter. Why do people make individual decisions that benefit them? Because that's what human beings do. Let's go back to the beginning of the show and tie it in. People make decisions based on their individual self-interest. That's why we have a governing body that limits what individuals interested in their own self-interest can do to you. Bingo! That's why we have a Bill of Rights, which says what the government can't do to you.

Can't abridge your right to bear arms. Can't take away your right to assemble, to petition the government, to speech, to religion. That's why the Bill of Rights was written that way. It doesn't empower the government. It empowers you. Because they knew the government was composed of individuals. Individual choices, in contrast to liberal Namiki cons, do matter. And individuals will act in their self-interest, which, Joe, is not yours a good swath of the time.

That's why the government limits what individuals can do to you. And that's why individual decisions like Al Gore and his private jets, Barack Obama and his walls, and Nancy Pelosi, now you're seeing why I opened up the show this way, Nancy Pelosi going to a $10,000 a night villa in Hawaii or wherever while the government shut down and she's pretending to give a crap does matter. It matters because it doesn't matter to Nancy Pelosi. At all. She doesn't care about the government shutdown.

Or you and the federal government. Nancy Pelosi cares about one thing. or you in the federal government. Nancy Pelosi cares about one thing. And you know what that is? Nancy Pelosi. Call them out. These hypocritical elites everywhere at every turn all the time. Individual choices don't matter. You're darn right they do.

They do matter. Individuals will act in their own self-interest. That's why we stopped them from imposing a carbon tax on all of us. Finally, he wraps up the piece with two more points he addresses what the mediocrity is living off the reputation of prior generations what they were wrong about how the elites who claim to be the meritocracy but are really the mediocrity are really a bunch of hypocrites gore pelosi ob Obama with his walls.

Elites with their private school education while they fight against school choice for the rest of us. But he also talks about the difference with Trump. How Trump doesn't paint himself as one of these elites. He didn't talk like one of them. He certainly doesn't act like one of them and he doesn't care for a lot of them.

And how he's been subjected because he refuses to join the club and take that bribe reminds me of that movie serpico that some of the cops back in the 70s in new york wanted you to take a bribe with them according to you know the movie and you know there's always a bit of movie drama of course but uh you know they were because then you were but you were bought into too. You couldn't rat them out, so to say. The swamp wants this too. The swamp needs you to buy in. Trump doesn't care. Big, double-barreled, middle finger, not interested.

So what happened? Hanson writes about an unprecedented effort to take down this president. Invokings of the 25th Amendment. In other words, Trump is mentally unqualified to be president, should be removed. What? Are you crazy? The Electoral College coup they tried to pull during the transition. Remember that one, Joe?

Trying to get electors to not elect Donald Trump after he won the election. The emoluments clause nonsense about Trump Tower. Stupidest thing I've ever heard. The Mueller probe. Can't forget that one. The DOJ, FBI, foreign intelligence, CIA, surrogates, and people involved with these agencies. Engaged in an unprecedented Spygate operation to take this president down. Why?

Because the mediocrity does not want a challenge to its mediocre nature. No, no, no. Oh, no, no. Finally, he wraps up this, this manifesto, this wonderful piece by saying, hey, are their arguments even valid? In order to assume that Trump is a danger and the mediocrity is right, he says, let's analyze their arguments, Joe. So he breaks it down three ways.

He says, one, is there a legal and popular basis to remove Donald Trump right now? And is the mediocrity right he says no there has been no evidence of crime or serious high crimes and misdemeanors by donald trump at all not only that forgetting the legal basis he says on a popular basis front show donald trump's poll numbers are basically right where Clinton Bush and Obama were at this time in their presidency and Donald Trump did better than Obama and Clinton in their own first midterms it was not a good midterm he doesn't try to put lipstick on it we lost the house but didn't lose anywhere close to the numbers that Clinton and Obama lost in some of their midterms so there's absolutely no legal or popular basis to get rid of this president by the mediocrity.

He addresses the second question. Has Trump failed? Is there a reason the mediocrity should be angry? Is Trump such a failure? He's so dangerous. GDP is at 3% despite the mediocrity telling us it didn't happen. The economy's at record low unemployment. Deregulation is proceeding off at a wonderful

rate, freeing up businesses to invest their capital. We've had tremendous constitutional conservatives appointed to the courts. We finally seem to have some control over endless wars and the deployment of foreign forces and it becoming a de facto world police force. We finally have some kind of a vision to when these people need to be drawn down. Our American patriots coming back home. What has he failed at?

He failed at Twitter. That's the best you've got. You got anything else? Now Hanson's clear. He says, listen, I'm not going to apologize for any of his personal bets, whatever. But your argument that he's failed is absurd. It's beyond stupid. If Trump failed, Obama was a catastrophic failure.

Catastrophic failure. Obama couldn't even meet Trump's metrics on the economy and laughed at them when they were even stated. How are they going to bring those jobs back? Remember that? The way he did it, by cutting taxes and deregulating. Thank you. Thank you. Next.

Like that Ariana Grande song my daughter plays 6,000 times a day. That's right. I got to hear it all day. I love my daughter. She's a good singer. My daughter can really sing. Seriously. Third, what's the antithesis to Trumpism?

What's the alternative? Where's the respected opposition? In other words, if the media actually is telling us Trump's no good, there's no legal basis to get rid of him no popular basis he hasn't failed he's done quite well but clearly there's an alternative what's the alternative who are the leaders that are going to emerge who joe biden no they'll put you all back in chains john brennan the corrupt cia director weaponized his agency to spy on trump jim clapper known liar leaking to the media stories to damage the president barack obama of benghazi fast and furious irs ap james rosen va scandal

fame that obama of of the worst recovery from a recession in modern american history obama the only president american history not to reach the three percent growth he said wasn't possible with Trump hit the first year that Obama he's the respected opposition who Hillary Clinton and and Billy Boy with his five hundred thousand dollar payment from a Russian bank while his wife was secretary of state lording over the uranium one deal oh the same russian bank that had analyzed the finances of it oh yeah yeah that guy yeah we're supposed to take advice from them no no no maybe we'll take it from the hollywood elite show surely kathy griffin and bob de niro know better oh yeah i want to punch him in the face that's my obama voice actually all of a sudden i don't do voices

very well yeah bob de niro i want to punch him in the face i don't know i don't know bob de niro i don't punch him in are you gonna do a bob de niro you have a bob de niro i don't do voices very well. Bob De Niro. I want to punch him in the face. I don't know Bob De Niro. I'm going to punch him in the face. Are you going to do a Bob De Niro? You have a Bob De Niro? I don't have one. I'll work on it. We have to get you. Because once I tell you, all Joe needs to do is listen to it once and he's gold.

Who are we supposed to listen to? Oh, man. Taylor Swift? I'm not knocking her. She supported a different candidate in Tennessee. The guy lost. I don't understand why we're supposed to listen to them. This is the respected opposition?

What? Who else? them why we're supposed to listen to them this is the respected opposition what uh who else any other geniuses out there we're supposed to listen to Beto O'Rourke we're supposed to listen to Beto why why do we have to listen to Beto what has Beto done but no I'm serious what has Beto done how is Beto the anointed one now Beto we gotta listen to Beto Bernie Sanders you gotta have a Bernie with his three homes money's terrible capitalists you all suck I work hard for those homes

I work hard for those homes this is the respected opposition hey hard pass man hard pass no time for these people and let me so that that's the sum of that's the mediocrity piece in a nutshell because i want to get to one more quick thing here there is no respected opposition. And it leaves me with this. There is opposition I do respect. This is an important point.

Trump has been engaged back and forth in a bit of a Twitter battle with some military generals. McRaven, McChrystal, obviously what happened with Mattis. McChrystal came out, Stanley McChrystal, and gave an interview and seemed to insinuate that Trump wasn't an honest guy and I thought took some cheap shots at the president that were unnecessary. Now, I'm going to separate two arguments here and you should too. You can respect these men and their service and I say that with every ounce of sincerity. I did not serve in the military. I don't know what these men have been through. Clearly, they proceeded through the ranks in the military through honorable, dignified service to their fellow man.

And for that, you have my utmost respect. But ladies and gentlemen, when you enter the political arena and you take a shot at the president, You enter the political arena and you take a shot at the president. The president has every single right as the president of the United States to defend himself. You may disagree with how he does it. You may disagree with the tweets or the tone of it.

That is fine. But I'm going to tell you now, and I may get some negative emails, but that's fine. I'm telling you the truth and how I feel. Once you enter the political arena, there's nothing to diminish your service to this country. Don't mistake the two. But the president has every darn right to fight back. And I support his right to do it.

He absolutely should fight back. I would do the exact same thing if someone with a history of distinguished military service attacked me in what I thought to be a disingenuous manner. So although I don't respect the other opposition, Hillary, Obama, none of them. I don't. These were horrible

political leaders. The Hollywood elitists, the actor class, fake academics, the Obamacare guy, Jonathan whatever. American people are really stupid. That's how we got over on you with Obamacare guy Jonathan whatever American people are really stupid that's how we got over on you with Obamacare I have no respect for them none zero don't care

don't care a bit but I do respect those generals I salute you but I also respect my president and he has every single right to fight back all right folks thanks again for tuning in um please um watch the five uh i will be guest hosting the five i put it out on my twitter feed on fox i will be in this wednesday thursday and friday let's boost those ratings i really appreciate it uh it matters a lot when uh when

i go on that you all give us some feedback. And I'd love to hear your tweets and emails, how you think I did. I'm sure there will be some spicy debates. You know me. I know Joe will be watching. Yeah, always a liberal on the panel. You know I never like to sit back and just take it. So make sure you watch The Five.

Please just set your DVR this Wednesday, which is Wednesday, today's show, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Check it out, 5 p.m. Eastern time on The Five. Hey, I really enjoyed today's show. I did. I enjoyed your company today. You too, Joe. This was one of my favorite shows, I got to tell you, I've done in months. And please, please read that Victor Davis Hanson piece up at my website. It is tremendous. It's worth your time. Screw the mediocrity. Be back tomorrow.

See ya. You just heard the Dan Bongino Show. Get more of Dan online anytime at conservativereview.com. You can also get Dan's podcasts on iTunes or SoundCloud. And follow Dan on Twitter 24-7 at DBongino.